Wales and Japan 2025

Oita • Kitakyushu • Hiroshima • Tokyo | 08-15 October 2025

A pioneering pan Wales organisation empowering young people through singing, Aloud, will be taking 12 members of its Only Boys Aloud choir to tour Japan. Whilst they have been collaborating with schools in Oita and Kitakyushu for the past six years, this will be a very special visit as it is the first time that the young people from both nations will meet in person, and for many of the boys it will be their first opportunity to travel internationally. The tour will include Welsh and Japanese song exchanges, performances in Oita, Kitakyushu, Hiroshima and Tokyo, and visits to important sites for the boys to learn more about and experience the vibrant history and cultures of Japan.

Website and socials: aloud.cymru | insta: @aloud.cymru | fb: @thealoudcharity

Oita | December 2025

A new phase of the longstanding partnership between Amgueddfa Cymru Museums Wales and OPAM (Oita Prefecture Art Museum) will develop an artist exchange focussing on sustainable textiles and bamboo. A bamboo artisan from Oita will be invited for a residency in Wales, including time at the National Wool Museum with access to Amgueddfa Cymru extensive collections. Selected Welsh textile artist, Llio James, will travel to Oita to collaborate with bamboo artisans, facilitate workshops and exhibit at OPAM.

Website and socials: amgueddfa.cymru / museum.wales | insta: @museumwales | fb: @amgueddfacymru

Hokkaido • 21-25 November 2025 | Online • 01-08 December 2025

New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival and Cardiff Animation Festival bring together two countries with rich animation histories and vibrant storytelling from Japan and Wales. As international exhibitors of independent animation, the partnership champions animators from both countries whilst sharing skills and professional experiences. The two festivals will engage in cultural exchange in the Japanese north island of Hokkaido during the New Chitose International Animation Festival, with opportunities for workshops,

professional development for young filmmakers, a residency for two animators and animation festival creative practitioners and for audiences to experience Welsh animation.

Website and socials: cardiffanimation.com | insta: @cardiffanimfest | fb: @CardiffAnimationFestival

Osaka • Tokyo  | 14-23 October 2025

Musician, composer, producer and one fifth of the Super Furry Animals, Cian Ciarán presents Rhys a Meinir.  

Composed by Ciarán and with original narration by Rhys Ifans, Rhys a Meinir, is an orchestral odyssey into Welsh folklore. Originally performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Cian will showcase an innovative re-interpretation of the classic Welsh narrative at teamLab Borderless, Tokyo. An installation featuring two self-playing Yamaha pianos synchronized to perform a piano reduction for four hands of the original orchestral score. 

 Rhys a Meinir is a beloved and evocative marriage of analogue romance and digital innovation - a hybrid and uniquely Welsh audio-visual experience. 

Cian will also be a part of a special audio-visual event, Keltronika, in Tokyo with Welsh artists Gwenno, Mark James and Dean Lligwy, where he will be showcasing the making-of documentary of Rhys a Meinir and an accompanying animated film of the orchestral score. 

Website and socials: cianciaran.com | fb: @C.Ciaran

Kobe • Osaka | 01-15 September 2025

Building on networks and research established during a residency with Beppu Projects, Oita in 2020, Wales based artists Freya Dooley and Clare Charles travel to Kobe for a special two-week residency at AiRK Kobe, where they will be developing new sound works and an online radio broadcast with a focus on social and collective listening practices. 

Freya and Clare will visit artists, musicians and organisations in Kobe and Osaka, presenting an online broadcast in Winter 2025 featuring contributions from both Welsh and Japanese artists. This project aims to foster cross-cultural connections through sound and develop a platform for dialogue and collective listening, which enables artists in both countries to share practices, ideas, and creative processes.  The resulting archive will also be hosted online by partner networks in Wales and Japan.

Website and socials: freyadooley.com | insta: @freya_dooley • @clare_charles_

Tokyo • 12-23 October 2025

Award winning singer-songwriter, electronic producer and sound artist from Cardiff, Wales, Gwenno, will be launching Utopia, her most recent, trilingual album (Welsh, Cornish and English), in Japan. Performances include intimate store launches and radio sessions as well as joining fellow Welsh artists Cian Ciaran, Mark James and Dean Lligwy for Keltronika, a special, one-off audio-visual event taking place in Tokyo.

Website and socials: gwenno.info | insta: @gwennosaunders | fb: @Gwennomusic

Osaka • Kyoto | 03 - 31 August 2025

Visual artist, Heather Parnell, and fine artist, Sue Hunt, will be undertaking a month-long residency in Japan. The residency will include the development of new creative work and exhibition, focussing on paper, packaging and the art of gifting, at Art Spot Korin, Kyoto, and workshops and professional development exchanges focussed on Arts, Health and Wellbeing in Osaka with the University of Kindai and Mimihara Hospital. The project is wide-reaching, aiming to create inclusive, accessible creative engagement whilst building mutually beneficial artistic links between Wales and Japan.

 Website and socials: heatherparnell.wordpress.com • suehunt.co.uk | insta: @heatherwinterparnell • @sue_hunt_paintings

Tokyo • Tottori • Osaka | 25 September - 08 October 2025

Wales’s award-winning learning disabled and non-learning disabled theatre company, Hijinx Theatre, will be taking their internationally acclaimed production of Meet Fred to Japanese audiences. The project will feature performances at the Bird Theatre Festival in Tottori, introducing Japanese audiences to Hijinx's approach to inclusive theatre. This exchange brings their work full circle, as Meet Fred's central character is a Bunraku puppet directly inspired by Japanese puppetry traditions. It's been the company’s long-held ambition to bring this production to the country where this art form originated and continues to be revered.

Working with two key Japanese partners, SLOW LABEL in Tokyo and the Bird Theatre Festival in Tottori, Hijinx will deliver workshops for disabled and neurodivergent participants, host panel discussions and explore potential future collaborations. The exchange aims to establish lasting partnerships that could include future tours of Hijinx productions to Japan and Japanese performances at Hijinx's Unity Festival in Wales.

Website and socials: hijinx.org.uk | insta: @hijinxtheatre | fb: @hijinxtheatre

‘Keltronika’ is an audio-visual Celtic culture clash. 

This exclusive event features the collective work of four Welsh artists: Gwenno, Cian Ciarán, Mark James and Dean Lligwy. 

Gwenno will be performing songs in Cornish, Welsh and English from across her 4 solo albums, including from her latest album ‘Utopia’. Cian Ciaran will be showcasing his making-of documentary of ‘Rhys a Meinir’ and an accompanying animated film of the orchestral score. Dean Lligwy premieres ambient Brythonic soundscapes, created exclusively for the event. Mark James will be showing new work developed for the event and curated existing artworks, ‘Anomalies’, ‘Mountain People’ and ‘Culture Clash’. 

 An invite-only event, taking place at Wall&Wall Aoyama, Tokyo.

Tokyo • Zushi | 23-30 October 2025

Curated by Welsh filmmaker and musician Griff Lynch, the programme celebrates the importance of the Welsh language as a means of strengthening ties and fostering understanding between our nations through the mediums of art and film.  In cooperation with Cymdeithas Dewi Sant Japan, Cinema Amigo, and Tollywood Shimokitazawa, six captivating Welsh-language films will be showcased in Tokyo and Zushi. This is alongside a short introductory film that weaves together the personal journeys of Takeshi Koike and Yuko Nakauchi, two Japanese Welsh speakers whose passion for the language was ignited by their encounters with Welsh art, poetry, and film.

Website and socials: insta: @grifflynch 

Aberystwyth • 27-29 June 2025

The acclaimed International Ceramics Festival 2025 in Aberystwyth, Wales, showcased two leading Japanese ceramic artists, Euan Craig and Iku Nishikawa, whose practices focus on sustainability. Craig, a disciple of a National Living Treasure, demonstrates traditional pottery techniques and builds an Eco kiln, while Nishikawa leads contemporary workshops on kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with gold. Together, their work highlights contrasting yet complementary approaches to sustainability, through material practice, technical innovation, and cultural philosophy.

Website and socials: internationalceramicsfestival.org | insta: @icfaberystwyth fb: @ICFAberystwyth

Osaka • Kobe • Kyoto | 23 October – 04 November

Literature Across Frontiers is partnering with two significant Japanese literary organisations, the International Institute for Children’s Literature (IICLO) in Osaka, and Japanese Board on Books for Young People (JBBY). The hybrid project aims to bring together children’s books creators and publishers from Wales and Japan to collaborate and establish new connections. Two Welsh illustrators, Valériane Leblond and Liz Fenwick, will travel to Japan and take part in a series of workshops with the renowned Osaka-based artist and creator of books for children, Yoshifumi Hasegawa, exchanging ideas about themes that connect the two cultures and approaches to creating stories and characters. Together, they will present the project in a public event in the Osaka Central Library.

Valériane and Liz will also run a picture-book making workshop with children and network with members of SCBWI, the international membership organisation for children’s book creators. They will explore Japanese culture and its reflection in books for young readers, and look forward to being inspired by the stories and images they will discover during their two-week visit. To conclude the project, an online meeting of Japanese and Welsh children’s book publishers will be organised to promote Wales’ bilingual culture and encourage future exchange.

Website and socials: lit-across-frontiers.org | insta: @literatureacrossfrontiers | fb: @LitAcrossFrontiers 

Himeji • 14-16 November 2025

Papercut artist and illustrator, Mari Wirth, now lives and works in Wales but returns to her hometown of Himeji for a collaboration highlighting sustainability and green society. Her project partner is the globally acclaimed Green Bird Himeji, a pan Japan volunteer charity who focus on removing litter from the streets with the concept of “cleaning your city can bring beauty into your heart”. The collaboration will see Mari, as an artist who uses only sustainable and biodegradable materials, creating new papercutting pieces and inviting local people to make their own work. The work will be presented and exhibited in Himeji as a sign of the friendship between Wales and Japan and as a shared commitment to building a sustainable society for the next generations.

Website and socials: mariwirthpapercutart.com | insta: @maritreeleaf | fb: @MariWirth5

Tokyo • 12 - 20 October 2025

Mark James is an independent multi-disciplinary artist and art director whose first solo exhibition in Japan, Culture Clash, was a sell-out show in 2022.  Mark returns to Japan to present a new exhibition at ‘Keltronika’, the audio-visual Celtic culture clash featuring four Welsh artists: Gwenno, Cian Ciarán, Mark James and Dean Lligwy. The exclusive, multi-genre event at Wall&Wall Aoyama, Tokyo will feature his new and existing artworks, ‘Anomalies’, ‘Mountain People’ and ‘Culture Clash’.

Website and socials: markjamesworks.com | insta: @markjamesworks

Oishi, Fujikawaguchiko-machi • Llanbedrog | Autumn 2025

This collaboration project will commence with a reciprocal residency exchange, offering the selected Welsh woodworker, Rae Morris, an invaluable opportunity to immerse themselves in Japanese woodworking practices and traditions for a month at Mt Fuji Wood Culture Society in Japan. In return, a Japanese woodworker will journey to Wales to undertake a month-long residency at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, where they will receive expert guidance and mentorship from the renowned John Egan and Junko Mori studio.

The exchange will form part of Coed/Coexist, a project initiated by Pen Llŷn artists Junko Mori & John Egan in partnership with Plas Glyn-y-Weddw. The essence of the project draws our attention to trees and woodland, seeking out wider connections, desires and reliance on these ecosystems while connecting community, creativity and environmental stewardship. The project celebrates the local area and communities of Pen Llŷn as well as shared global connections and responsibilities to future generations.

 Website and socials: oriel.org.uk • junkomori.com •  | insta: @plasglynyweddw • @junkomori44 • @making_little | fb:  @orielplasglyn.yweddw • @JunkoMoriMetalwork 

May – December 2025

Wales based Re-Live and Japan based Kenjin-kai Social Welfare Foundation are coming together as creative collaborators for the first time to co-create a bilingual dementia comic with people living with dementia, families, and care workers from both countries. This project marks an exciting new chapter in their long-standing connection, built since 2010 through a shared commitment to arts, health, and wellbeing. Published in Welsh, Japanese, and English, the comic will be widely distributed in comic shops, dementia care services, cultural spaces, and among policymakers. This project fosters cultural exchange, deepens the understanding of dementia and the power of communities telling their own stories, and strengthens future arts in health initiatives in both countries.

 Website and socials: re-live.org.uk | insta: @relive_arts | fb: @ReLiveArts 

Tokyo • Kyoto • Oita • Osaka • Hokkaido | December 2025

Acclaimed Welsh experimental harpist Rhodri Davies' tour of Japan will take the form of 5 concerts and 1 recording session. Davies plans to work with a combination of musicians that he has worked with over two decades as well as new collaborators: Fumi Endo, Kanon Aonami, Suzueri and Tetuzi Akiyama. The aim is to strengthen connections between Welsh and Japanese musicians working in the free improvisation and experimental music fields. The 5 concert tour plans to visit Tokyo, Kyoto, Oita and Osaka.

Website and socials: rhodridavies.com | insta: @rhodrijd | fb: @rhodritelyn

CARDIFF | 25 August – 03 September

“The Young Marble Giants have affected me the most of all musically...I can feel déjà vu from them” - Susumu Yokota

Young Marble Giants were an influentialWelsh post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales, in 1978. Susumu Yokota, (born 22 April 1960 – 19 March 2015) was an acclaimed Japanese record producer and composer.

Taking its name from The Young Marble Giants song Choci Loni and Susumu Yokota’s track Tobiume, this is a meeting of minds, sentimentalities, identities, tunings, phrases and universal rhythms and of Wales and Japan. There will be music, there will be movement, visual journeys and little pockets of restful magic.

Six artists, three Japanese:

Reina Kimura (dancer/choreographer), Ichi (musician/performance)and Reiko Aoyagi (multimedia visual) join three Welsh: Anushiye Yarnell (9dancer/performance/visual), Ya Yonder (musician/performance) and Tess Gray (visual/performance)

 Website and socials: tessgray185.wixsite.com | insta: @tessgrayart

Dawns y Ceirw and Creative and Language Technology Workshop @ Upopoy National Ainu Museum

Tokyo • Shiraoi | 15-23 October 2025

It’s Christmas Eve and everyone in the village is snuggled up at home. Nobody notices the lonely little deer left outside in the cold... While playing alone in the snow, Carw longs for warmth and kindness. Suddenly, a shimmering little light appears! Although he hasn’t ventured far from his village before, Carw follows the little light on a magical adventure through the forest where he finds the love and strength within.

Written and performed by Casi Wyn (Children’s Laureate of Wales 2022-23), this enchanting co-production from Theatr Cymru and National Dance Company Wales travels to Japan for the first time. Performing to young audiences at the Setagaya Street Art Festival, Tokyo, the company will then travel to Hokkaido where they will be collaborating with UPOPOY National Ainu Museum. They will hold workshops on Creative and Technology workshops around the use of the Sibrwd technology and its possible application for other Indigenous Languages. 

Website and socials: theatr.cymru • ndcwales.co.uk | insta: @theatr.cymru • @ndcwales | fb: @TheatrGenedlaetholCymru • @NDCWales

With St Davids Society Japan

Tokyo • Osaka | October 2025

The programme will include supporting a creative residency and cultural exchange in Japan for four Parthian writers and artists Susan Karen Burton, Eluned Gramich, Catrin Menai and Elin Gruffydd. Working in collaboration with the St David’s Society Japan to host public events in both Osaka and in Tokyo.

Website and socials: parthianbooks.com | insta: @parthian_books | fb: @parthianbooks

December 2025

The first tour of Japan for Pys Melyn, taking their Welsh Language pysho-pop and indie music to audiences in Tokyo and Osaka